Attack on Chakma community in Rangamati

Last Friday, pictures circulating on social media showed a grim reality: families from the Chakma community fleeing to safety with what little they could carry of their possessions while their houses went up in flames. Further reports on different newspapers confirmed: at least four villages in Rangamati's Longadu Upazila were torched by Bengalee settlers. It has been claimed that at least 300 houses have been razed to the ground, while officials have maintained the number is 110. The chairman of Longadu sadar union has also said that an elderly woman was hacked to death by the attackers.

We would like to be clear: it does not matter if the number of houses burnt is 100 or 300. What matters is that centring a rumour that individuals from the indigenous community had killed the organising secretary of Longadu sadar union Jubo League, a Bangalee, settlers unleashed this barbarity. But the police have said that it is yet to be established who killed Nayan and why. And even if it were more than a rumour, mob violence cannot be condoned.

We have heard that tensions were high in the area since Thursday and law enforcement authorities had been informed beforehand. That the situation still went beyond their control is not acceptable. In a volatile area such as Rangamati, ethnic tensions are not new. Now 400 people have been sued and four arrested. Alongside, rehabilitation of the communities who have lost their houses and ensuring their safety should be a prime concern of the authorities. The onus is on them to realise that these attacks do not spark up suddenly, but are results of perpetuated conflicts in the region. Unless those are resolved and the rights of indigenous communities ensured, we cannot expect these incidents to not flare up again and again.